Friday and Saturday, 12/19/14, 12/20/14, family and friends of Mark Kneerskern gathered at the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua to celebrate Mark’s life with art, poetry and music.
Celebrating Mark “Eyeball” Kneeskern
Free Tea Party Bus in Terlingua
From the porch in Terlingua I noticed a converted bus in front of the art gallery… not too unusual. Terlingua attracts all sorts of alternative living people and out here a bus is not an unusual structure for a home. The only unusual part was that apparently this bus actually runs.
Later, at the community garden, the same bus was there. This time I noticed the sign: “free tea.”
Ok. I’ll bite.
I wandered over and met Guisepi, Mr. Tea, the free tea guy. Very quickly, I realized that he was a very special guy with an amazing mission.
Terlingua off-season
During the Thanksgiving holidays the Terlingua Ghost Town was packed. Tourists from all over the world came to enjoy Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and Terlingua. There was a two hour wait to get into the Starlight Theatre. A line at the bathrooms. Traffic on the roads and lots of new faces on the porch.
Then, the holidays ended and the tourists returned to their points of origin, leaving just Terlinguists in Terlingua.
We appreciate the visitors, and the economy wouldn’t work without them- but, it’s also nice when it’s just locals. Last night, Laird Considine played the Starlight Theatre with Chase Peeler on Sax and Taylor Luttrell on fiddle. Dancing ensued.
At the Boathouse, James and Don were serving up delicious burgers as the locals gathered outside to watch the sunset. In the back, there was a cut-throat competitive scrabble game going on.
I didn’t make it down to the High Sierra and La Kiva is still under construction, but as I drove the 30 miles home- passing two cars on the way – I reflected on the fact that we’ve built a pretty nice little world down here.
